Are We Not Men? We Are Rug Designers. DEVO's Mark Mothersbaugh Does Rugs

Mark Mothersbaugh, member of the iconic and influential band DEVO is a visual artist as well as a musical one. In addition to his books, prints, drawings and paintings, he's recently designed 12 different rugs for Walteria Living in Los Angeles.


above: the cover of DEVO's best selling album, Freedom of Choice and Mark Mothersbaugh

The rugs vary in size and shape, are crafted of 100% New Zealand wool and come in various color combinations. There are 4 limited edition rugs that are based on his previous paintings and drawings and 8 patterned rugs, some of which are based on his previous artwork as well, designed by Mark.

His 4 limited edition rugs:




The 8 other rugs:








In addition to the rugs, he's created a wonderful collection of wallpapers for Walteria Living as well. Many of which are based on his Beautiful Mutants images. Here's a few examples:



In his own hilarious words:

Mark's love of art started early in his childhood, just after it was discovered that he was extremely nearsighted and legally blind.

His first correctional glasses offered Mark a new view of the world, inspiring his obsession with imagery and illustrations. His first works, which he began creating in the late 60's and into the 70's, consisted of many different mediums, including rubber stamp designs, ink illustrations, screen printing, decals, and mail art. He participated in local showings, and received recognition for his work in his home town of Akron, Ohio.

With DEVO, his most successful music project, Mark was able to showcase his artistic abilities on a larger scale, and to millions of people. Through their films, videos, costumes, LP covers, stage shows, and printed materials, Mark and DEVO forever altered commonly held preconceptions of how a rock band should function in popular culture.

During his downtime on early worldwide tours with DEVO, he began illustrating on postcards to send to his friends, which he still creates, and has been creating every day for over 30 years; A very obsessive habit which still yields anywhere from 1 to 25 new images per day. These cards were originally created as his personal diaries, and were never intended for public viewing. That all changed when Mark decided to share his postcard works in his critically acclaimed solo shows during the 80's & 90's, and then with his gallery tour in 2003 titled HOMEFRONT INVASION!. This marked the beginning of many solo shows to come.

Mark followed the 2003 tour with his BEAUTIFUL MUTANTS tour in 2004, which showcased his photographic symmetrical creations and 'corrected' imagery. The tour distributed many more of Mark's works throughout the world, and attracted more first-time gallery visitors & art buyers to his shows.

Mark's gallery tours since 2005 have featured new works from both his Postcard Diaries Prints and Beautiful Mutants photographs, giving each gallery a choice of either visual theme.

Buy Mark's rugs and wallpaper here.

Check out his latest Postcard Diaries here.
And The Visual Art Of Mark Mothersbaugh website here.


Sign up to be alerted as to when his prints from his Beautiful Mutants, upon which the wallpaper is designed, here.

Funky Find Of The Week: Boym's Sex Rugs; Aphrodite & Diana

Not only are the 100% wool hand-tufted "Sex" rugs by Boym Partners Inc. unusual, fun and functional art you can hang on the wall or place on the floor, but given that the extra long wool that acts as 'hair' can be cut or styled, they are actually interactive!

Limited to 10 pieces of each and made in India, they measure a full 6' x 3' and are surprisingly affordable at $850.00 USD a piece.

Purchase them here

Marcel Wanders' Carpets For Colorline: World Carpets & Tartan Collections

In 2006 Colorline first cooperated with Marcel in designing the floor carpet for the MOOOI stand at the Salone del Mobile in Milan. Afterwards together they developed several carpets for the MOOOI brand. This successful cooperation resulted in many new joint projects, including the World Carpets Collection and the recently released Tartan Collection.

WORLD CARPETS & TARTAN COLLECTION


Dutch designer Marcel Wanders has been inspired by different patterns from cultures all over the world. He combined several of these to create some remarkable new and attractive patterns that he used for rug designs for Colorline of the Netherlands.



The patterns are characterized by large elegant figures in which you can see depth, because the several patterns have been projected on each other. Three examples of these layered patterns are shown below:



Next to the basic patterns, Marcel created several color schemes, three examples of which are shown below.



Every color scheme consists of 4 different colors; every carpet with a width of 4 meters has 4 different colors of 1 meter each. The use of several colors in one carpet creates a special effect, especially for large surfaces.



Below are some examples of the results of combining the layered patterns with various color schemes:






For each application and atmosphere there is a color scheme in the program. Each color scheme has 2 alternatives A and B with a width of 4 meters. You can also choose for a combination of A and B to create a color scheme with a width of 8 meter.



With the sample generator found here and shown above, you can create your own samples for order by choosing patterns and color combination.

In addition to the World Carpets for Colorline, Marcel has recently created yet another line, the Tartan, for Colorline.

After the successful introduction of the project flooring line shown above called "World Carpets", Marcel Wanders and Colorline are introducing a brand new tile collection, named Tartan.

The collection has four individual characters that can be mixed into a beautiful composition of geometric lines, flowers and tartan. By mixing the four individual characters of the tiles it is possible to create separate spaces into every room:

See the Tartan Tile site here.

• See Marcel's Biscayne Bay, Miami Luxury Apartments here.
• See Marcel's Stunning Christmas designs and windows for Bijenkorf here.
• And you must see Marcel's collection for Holland Electro here.

The Los Angeles Times Ought To Have Called Me.

After reading the Los Angeles Times article "Rug art turns floor into canvas"; in the home section on feb. 7th by Janet Eastman, I simply had to show but a few of the truly amazing carpets and rugs that really are 'art for your floor'.

While the article was correct in calling this a 'trend', they certainly did not do it justice. Although Janet Eastman pointed out the fabulous Ekvoll rugs and singled out one of my favorites, Dan Golden, as well as a few fabulous others...the article left out so very many worth mentioning.

The amount of artful designer hand-tufted, carved, shaped, signed and pricey wool rugs out there have been growing exponentially over the past few years.

Below are only 18 of the over 80 rugs I have pointed out on thisnext.com. They include fabulous carpets by the likes of Roy Lichtenstein, Ronen and Erwan Bouroullec, Karim Rashid, Kiki Smith, Adrien Rovero, Kyle Hunting, Reuber Henning, nani marquina, Artware Editions, Amazed carpets, J. Milo and more.

Click on each picture above to see more images and links to purchase.

See my over 80 picks (and links to purchase) Fancy Friggen Flooring & Radical Rugs here.

Aldo Rossi's Rugs On Exhibit in London

Some know Aldo Rossi (1931-1997) for his Pritzker Prize-winning architecture, like the San Cataldo Cemetery in Modena and the Centro Torri Commercial Centre in Parma; some for his masterful hand drawings; and others simply as one of last century's greatest Italian architects, who founded the neo-rationalist movement. Few though, would associate Rossi with carpet design; yet the Milanese architect and theorist has much more than architecture projects to show in his impressive portfolio.

Specialist antique dealers Arto and Eddy Keshishian, in association with James Bly, launch today an exhibition of Rossi's carpet designs. The 15 pieces on show were created in 1986, when Rossi was invited to design a series of traditionally woven carpets by the Zeddiani Company, inspired by Sardinian techniques and culture. The architect embraced the local, basic and schematic carpet craftsmanship tradition, which fitted perfectly with his own geometric design explorations, aiming to boost the island's textile industry.



The beautiful pieces are on show in a selling exhibition in London's Kashishian Gallery till the 24th November, along with one each by the designers Piero Lissoni, Ettore Sottsass and Jasper Morrison, and five by Patricia Urquiola, all measuring 2m by 3m.

INFORMATION

Event dates- 14 November 2007 to 24 November 2007
Telephone- 44.20 7730 8810
Address - 73 Pimlico Road, London, SW1W 8NE
source-wallpaper magazine, nov. 14

6 Ways To Wood Floors (Without the Wood)

Wood floors or carpet?
Why choose one when you can have a carpet that looks like a wood floor?

Here are 6 different examples by six different designers.

From the new plynyl floor mats by Chilewich to the tromp de l'oeil look of Yvette Laduck's Woody Wood rug, you can have the look of wood made of anything but wood.

In vinyl. Or silk. Or leather. Or hand-tufted wool.

Click on the above rug for more information and a link to purchase.

prices vary wildly.

See more of my Fancy Friggen Flooring & Radical Rugs list at ThisNext.

Art that will Floor You: Imaginative Rug Designs from Amazed Ltd.

Looking at a rug or carpet as a valuable and pretty piece of art is nothing new. From Navajo Indian rugs to Persian rugs to 18th century french rugs, the value as well as the craftsmanship has long been heralded. But Madeleine and Dudley Edwards of the UK have taken the art of the rug one step further. It's now 'conceptual'.

In addition to their talent for combining shapes and color, they have created carpets that conjure up nature, technology, spirituality and even trompe de'leoil. By carving textures such as tire tracks, garden mazes, footprints of humans and animals, the raked sand of a zen garden, crop circles and even the illusion of a broken window, their products become more than functional and beautiful, they become conceptual art.

Just take a look at a few of their creations below.






As applied artists Madeleine & Dudley Edwards of Amazed LTD. enjoy the opportunity of working with Architects and Interior Designers. The following quote is taken directly from their website:

“Bouncing ideas back and forth can be fertile ground bearing rich fruit. We often feel like session musicians being invited to jam. And like any good session musicians the first attribute is a willingness to ‘listen’ to what others are trying to achieve and to respond accordingly, whilst bringing something ‘uniquely ours’ to the mix. Reacting positively to other peoples creations can serve as a metaphorical springboard helping us to achieve greater heights. This symbiosis can bring about something entirely new that wouldn’t have been possible from working in isolation. For our modus operandi – we always aim to harmonize or contrast with the surrounding architecture thereby ensuring that our artwork would be an integral/indivisible part of the whole”. In turn, Interior Designers and Architects view their rugs and wall hangings (with the tactile soft warmth and sound insulating properties) as ideal compliments to today’s hard cold surfaces like laminates, glass, steel, marble and stone.



Together or independently Madeleine & Dudley have exhibited at the following gallery/venues:
Robert Frazer Gallery, London; Arts Council Touring Exhibition to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Cardiff; Madam Tussauds, London; The British Gallery, Atlanta, USA; Galerie 5, Geneva, Switzerland; The Association of Illustrators Gallery, London; Allgood Plc, London; The British Interior Design Association, London; Sothebys, London; Bonhams, London; The Dean Clough Gallery, Halifax; The Musee d’ Histoire Contemporaine, Paris; The V&A, London; The Tate Gallery, Liverpool; The Schirne Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; and The Kunsthalle Vienna.



Forthcoming shows:
Dudley’s work will be exhibited at The Whitney Museum of Art in New York May 07.
Their rugs don't just adorn the walls and floors of just anyone's home or office. Take a look at a few of their clients:

CORPORATE CLIENTS:
The British Pavilion, Montreal; Admiralty House, London; The Central Office of Information, London; Wolf Olins & Partners, London; The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defence, Riyadh; Jones Lang La Salle, London; Eversheds, Manchester; Qatar Bank, London; HQ Global, London; St James Homes, London; ISIS Asset Management Group, London; Urban Splash Properties, Liverpool & Manchester; Hirsch Bedner, Hong Kong & USA; the Sheraton Ocean Grande Resort, Japan and Laing O’Rourke, London.

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS:
Lord Snowdon, Sir Paul McCartney, Lord David Queensbury, Ringo Starr, David Bailey, Mary Quant, Lord Lew Grade, Tori Amos, Prince Abdul Aziz-Zaidan, Hugh Grant, Jonathan Cainer, Andrew Rosenfeld, Christen Ager Hanssen and Daniel Bedingfield. The late - Henry Moore, Sir Hugh Casson, Reynor Banham, Lord Paul Reilly and Dudley Moore.